


Public

by ReadingBennie



Series: Ben and Maggie [9]
Category: Benedict Cumberbatch - Fandom, Benedict Cumberbatch Fandom, British Actor RPF, Real Person Fiction
Genre: Alternate Reality, Evening Standard Awards, F/M, Red Carpet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-11
Updated: 2015-01-13
Packaged: 2018-03-01 01:13:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2754065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReadingBennie/pseuds/ReadingBennie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Benedict and Maggie make their first public appearance as a couple.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I told you there would be another one soon!!!! 
> 
> This one is going to be another multi-chapter one *Jazz hands*
> 
> **AU**

_“We’re live from the red carpet for the premiere of The Imitation Game and here to join us is Benedict Cumberbatch!” The reporter practically screamed, the excitement evident on her face. “First, congratulations on your engagement! Sad to see that your fiancée couldn’t join us…”_

_“Hello, thank you! Yes, Maggie was hoping to join but she had work; she does such wonderful things with her job.” Ben replied, his smile wide, reaching his eyes and making them sparkle._

_“If you don’t mind us asking, what does she do?”_

_“She’s a teacher; it’s amazing what she does. Maggie’s really fantastic with her students and right now, with the end of the semester upon them, they need Maggie more than I do. She phoned me this afternoon, with her love and support, so it’s like she’s here with me right now.”_

_“A teacher, that’s quite normal… She sounds lovely, we can’t wait to meet her!” The reporter seemed shocked, like she was expecting another answer. Ben’s face flickered for a brief moment._

_“Well, she is, but then, I’m normal too; I just have an abnormal job.”_  
  
“This film, what can we expect to take away from it?” 

Every clip from Ben’s US trip the past two weeks was the same. I sighed heavily. To me, it seemed that there was disappointment with me not attending any of the events that he had attended. Ben had assured me that he was perfectly fine with my not attending; my job was important and I needed time in advance to take the days off. Still, I wished I could have been there… 

“Are you watching the interviews again?” Ben slid into bed with me, taking my tablet and placing it on the nightstand, before lying down and pressing his cheek to my belly. “Hellooo little baby, daddy missed you today!”

“I just feel a bit bad… I miss out on a lot of things because of work…” I ran my fingers through Ben’s hair, scratching at his hairline behind his ear and on his neck. “So I did a lot of thinking and I decided that I’d really like to walk the red carpet with you at the Evening Standard awards tomorrow, as well as the Hobbit premiere on Monday.” 

“Really?” Ben raised his head to look at me. 

“Yeah; I think it’ll be fun, and I really want to experience this with you.” Ben took my hand that was resting on my thigh and placed a kiss on my palm and another kiss on my ring finger, over the band of my ring. “What am I going to wear? Do you think one of my performance gowns would swing? Oh god, I’m nervous already… ”

“Your gowns will be just fine.” Ben went back to nuzzling my belly. “You’re going to look beautiful no matter what you wear. And don’t be nervous, I’m going to hold your hand the entire time.”

“Promise you won’t let go?”

“Promise.” Ben pulled up my shirt and placed a kiss just above the waistband of my shorts. “Good night, little baby.”

We shifted around in bed to get comfortable. I turned onto my side away from Ben and he reached out to pull me in close, pressing my back to his chest. Wrapping an arm around my waist, he placed a kiss behind my ear, whispering good night. I whispered it back, reaching out to shut off the light.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops. This was supposed to be out ages ago... Last year in fact! *ba dum tiss*   
> *Crickets*  
> Yes, anyway, real life and the holidays happened. And I just had a bit of a writers block, where nothing looked good, or sounded right.   
> But I worked through!   
> And as a bonus, there will be a third chapter! (consider it a present from me to you)

Sunday had started out as normal as any other Sunday in our lives. Ben and I woke up, breakfasted, read the paper. Ben took some phone calls and I finished grading homework. After a light lunch, we readied for the ceremony.

I was standing in front of the floor length mirror in our bedroom, debating between my hair being down or up. I finally decided on a low chignon and was just finishing pinning my hair, when I heard a knock on the door.

“Mags, are you ready to go?” Ben pushed the door open further and walked in to the room. “Karon called and said the car would be here…”

I looked at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes were wide as they travelled over my body, taking in my appearance, his mouth slightly open. Ben caught my gaze and his cheeks flushed; he cleared his throat and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck.

“Well,” I said, giving a small twirl to face him. I stretched my arms wide and smiled. “How do I look, Mr. Cumberbatch?” 

“You look beautiful.” Ben reached out and brushed my cheek, fingering a stray curl near my ear. “Absolutely beautiful.”

There was a honk outside, signaling that the car had arrived and we were off. 

The drive was rather short and quiet. My nerves were starting to get the better of me. Ben could sense my distress and grabbed my hand, giving it a firm squeeze. The car pulled up to the Palladium and I could see the flashing lights of cameras.

“Oh God.” I blurted out.

“What?” Ben asked, “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong,” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I just, I’m just really nervous all of a sudden.”

Ben took my hand away from my face, and then gently grabbed my chin, turning my head to look at him. 

“You don’t have to go out onto that carpet if you don’t want to, you know that? You can go with Karon and wait inside. I won’t care.” His thumb swept across my cheek. “All that matters to me is that you are here.”

“No, I want to go out there. I want to experience these things with you.”

Ben leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips.

“When we walk the line, you don’t have to answer any questions. I’ll try and keep the focus on theatre and its importance, maybe speak on wanting to come back and do more theatre.” He shifted to get out of the car. “And, Maggie, I’ll hold your hand the entire time.” His eyes were sparkling as he looked at me.

“Promise?” I whispered, as Ben opened his door, getting out. 

“Promise.”

He adjusted his jacket and walked around the car to my side, opening my door and reaching for my hand. I took his proffered hand and stepped out of the car. The flashes were blinding, cameras everywhere. With my free hand, I smoothed my skirt and gave it a good fluff.

“Ready?” Ben intertwined our fingers and gave my palm a squeeze.

I took a deep breath and looked at him. I felt the corners of my mouth curl upwards. “Ready.”

We stepped round the car and set foot into the bright red carpet lights.


	3. Chapter 3

The flashing lights were blinding.

The noise was deafening. 

I looked to my left, down the carpet at the rows and rows of reporters and cameras. Turning right, I peeked around Ben to see Karon walking towards us. She gave a small wave, which I returned. 

“Maggie, it’s good to see you here!” She said. “What are the plans for tonight?” 

“We’re walking together.” Ben replied, giving me a small smile. 

“Oh! Exciting! Are you nervous?” Karon asked, looking a little shocked. 

“A little nervous, yes.” I said. “But I’ll manage. We can think of this as practice for bigger red carpet events.” 

“Thoughts on answers to questions, Ben?” Karson gave him a fixed look.

“Well, I’m going to try and keep the focus on theatre. And Maggie might answer some questions. I left that decision up to her, standard no comment if she decides not to.” 

“Then I guess you two are all set. Shall we?” She gestured to the carpet. “Oh, and Ben, try and keep the answers short; they want to get everyone inside as soon as possible.” 

I looked back at Karon. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep him on track.”

“Benedict! Benedict! Look here! Benedict!”

“Turn this way, this way please!”  
  
“Over here! Right here!”

Ben looped his arm around my waist, slipped his hand down to my hip, and pulled me in close as we stopped in front of the cameras. He dropped a kiss to my temple and whispered against my skin. “Deep breaths, I’ve got you. It’s just like we practiced.” Earlier this morning we ran through his photo routine: left, middle, right, middle. 

I smiled up at him as I rested my head against his shoulder. As I directed my gaze to the cameras, my arm snaked around Ben’s back, to squeeze him even closer to me. I felt Ben’s thumb tracing a pattern on my hip, and every now and then he’d mutter something like “Jesus, that flash is bright; I think I’ve seen that guy before; Oh, I know I’ve seen that guy before.”

The photo call ended in the blink of an eye, and Ben and I moved down the carpet towards the reporters. The first few focused their attention on Ben, focusing the questions on his excitement at returning to the stage as Hamlet. Then “Ben and Maggie, congratulations on your engagement!”

“Thank you,” we said at the same time, followed by twin laughs.

“Tell us a little bit about your decision to announce in the Times,” A new reporter asked, bouncing up and down. “It was so classy.” 

I felt Ben tense up a little bit. Thinking quickly, I answered “It’s something both our families have done for generations; we did debate on posting or not, but after we told our friends and family, we decided we wanted to keep the tradition alive and had an announcement drafted.” 

“Oh, that sounds sweet, a family tradition.” The reporter gushed. “Best of luck to you!”

We nodded politely and moved on. There were several more questions about our engagement, and one about wedding planning, to which Ben cheekily replied “That’s for us to know and you all to keep guessing.”

We made our way into the building, stopping here and there to pose with other attendees. I made a short trip to the powder room, to touch up my hair and makeup, before joining Ben back in the lobby to take our seats.

“Are you feeling okay?” He asked pulling out my chair. “The baby’s okay?”

“Yes, silly. We’re fine.” I sat down.

“Well, you were in there for a bit… I just got worried.” He moved his chair closer to mine and sat down, resting his arm on the back of my chair, his fingertips stroking my arm.

“Oh, sweetie. It’s not all that easy trying to use the toilet in a dress like this.” I giggled. “But don’t you worry. I’m just a little excited; all the flashes and the hustle of the carpet.”

I grabbed Ben’s other hand and pressed it to my lower belly, making seem like we were holding hands in my lap. “ _We_ are excited to be here with you. So let’s have some fun!” Ben responded with a kiss to my lips.

The ceremony began, and after what seemed like a short twenty minutes that was in fact three hours, it was over. My stomach hurt from the laughing and my cheeks were sore from smiling. Ben and I stood to mingle with the crowd for a little longer. The time continued to fly by.

Ben was engaged in conversation with Tom Stoppard, so I took the moment to check the time on my phone. It was half past midnight. I moseyed around the room looking for Karon, in hopes that she could arrange the car to come slightly earlier.

“There you are,” Ben’s voice sounded behind me, just as I spotted Karon. “I just checked my phone, it’s almost one. Would you like to go home now?”

“You read my mind.” I smiled softly, taking his hand. “You can stay a little longer, if you’d like, I don’t mind taking the car home alone.”

“No, no; I’m actually feeling a little tired as well, so I thought now would be a good time to sneak out.” Ben rubbed a hand up and down my arm. “Jesus, Mags, your skin feels freezing. Here, take my jacket to wear outside.”

“Oh, thank you,” Ben slipped off his jacket and helped guide my arms into the sleeves. “I guess I didn’t notice the chill… Haha, perks of being from the tundra!”

We clasped hands and made our way down the stairs towards the exit. Karon had worked her magic and our car was there waiting for us just down the block. Ben opened the door and we slid into the warm backseat.

“Well, what a night, huh?” He said, as he shut the door. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his chest, dropping a kiss to the top of my head. “Did you have fun?”

“I did,” I replied, snuggling into him. “I had immense fun but I’ll admit, it’s exhausting!”

“It does take a lot of energy, yes. Are you up for it tomorrow?”

“Of course! I want to experience the whole package with you.” I squeezed Ben tight. “I’m sticking by your side, always.” 

“Promise?” Ben lowered his head, nuzzling at my nose.

“Promise.” I reached up and caught his lips in a sweet kiss.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've included a picture of what Maggie is wearing, though her dress doesn't have the leaves on the skirt.


End file.
